


Crown me with your love

by Welsper



Category: Original Work
Genre: Devotion, F/F, Loyalty, On the Run, Protectiveness, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-14 00:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21006833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/pseuds/Welsper
Summary: Come away with me.





	Crown me with your love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiri_bronach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiri_bronach/gifts).

“Find them! They cannot have gone far!”

Between clenched teeth, Senator Gadia shouted orders to knights, their ranks frantically roused from sleep in the middle of the night.

“Insolent woman, thinking she can run from me,” she hissed, pacing up and down her vast chambers. Her eyes darted over to the shimmering white gown on stand in the middle of the room. It was glittering with thousands of rare gems, decorated with rare flowers and a veil stitched by maidens from all around the kingdom. The kingdom that should have been hers.

It would have been a simple thing. Marry Leyla off, and then so tragically, the young Queen would have been taken along with her spouse, an accident maybe or an unexplained sickness. Maybe an assassin, but it would be best not to stir the anger of the people, make them look too deeply for answers. A people who loved their Queen deeply, for all her childishness and naive idealism. An idealism that would ruin the kingdom and all of Gadia’s plans along with it. Hard times needed hard leaders and Leyla was anything but. A Queen so besotted with a foreign upstart at her side the people had started whispering of marriage. No, that would not do. Gadia did not need someone who would put up a fight.

Some duke, or a lady at court. A retired general, perhaps, it hardly mattered. So long as they were easily dispatched along with her and outwardly looked like a proper match. And once the Queen was gone, and the mourning was over, then Gadia could get to work.

But that vile lowlife at Leyla’s side must have sniffed something out, like dogs tended to do.

And now the queen was missing.

If they couldn’t find her, then the laws of this land would never truly recognize Gadia as ruler. So long as Leyla still lived, so long as there was hope her line still lived.

So find Leyla she would. Her and that peasant knight of hers who had stolen her away.

* * *

“Halt! In the name of Senator Gadia, I command you to stop!”

The low rumbling of a whole battalion of guards approaching on horseback shook the earth and dread gripped Leyla’s heart. They had found her. Of course they had. It had been a mockery of a plan, if it could be called a plan at all. In tears, Leyla had stormed into Arani’s quarters. Her most loyal knight, one so devoted that Leyla heard the whispers questioning what she hoped to gain for it. That this foreign-born woman was pushing beyond her proper place in the universe – she shouldn’t have been a knight at all by any right. And Leyla was a horrible girl, for she had abused that trust, that loyalty and now her knight would die for it.

She had made her take her away, she had cried into her arms to please not let Gadia take her. And Arani never refused her a thing. Had never, in all her life.

Her true, loyal Arani.

How she had failed her. Perhaps it was far too late, but she had to try and make it right.

“Arani, listen,” Leyla shouted and tugged at her knight’s arm. Rain was bearing down on them, their horse barely finding a path.

“It’s fine… It’s going to be okay,” she whispered, hugging Arani tight. Her plate was so cold, but it was Arani beneath and that warmed her either way.

“Just leave me here, and then you can flee,” Leyla said. “I’ll go with them.”

“Gadia is a monster,” Arani said. “I will not let her have you. Do not give me an order I cannot obey.”

But she reined in the horse that came to a standstill. Mud and water splashed up at them. Leyla’s splendid gown was drenched even further and it weighed her down heavily. The same as the expectations on her did. Leyla climbed down from the horse and slipped in the mud. She fell to her knees and the guards moved in. Leyla closed her eyes, resigning herself to her feet when she heard the rattling of Arani’s armor as she moved.

When Leyla opened her eyes, Arani was still there. She had not run.

“What are you doing? You have to leave! They’ll kill you!” Leyla shouted, terror plain in her voice. No, she could live with marrying a person someone else choose for her, with never knowing love, but she could not live if Arani was dead. If she could not hold onto hope that the only woman she had ever loved was out there somewhere.

“So long as I still take breath, I will not let you come to harm,” Arani shouted. Leyla was crying now, tears and snot dripping down her face as she saw her knight go so far for her. Arani’s legs were shaking from the cold, so were her arms, but still she stood tall, between her queen and the guards come to take her.

“I will not let your dreams seen ruined, your life forfeit, bound to some rotten viper and be killed off when you are no longer convenient,” the knight hissed and cut down guard after guard coming at her. Her swords whirled in the air, singing and tearing, blood staining the blades and the ground and Arani’s face. She was covered in red as she turned to her queen. The forest was still safe for the raindrops. There was no human left alive save the two of them. The guards lay still and broken on the muddy ground. Arani’s breath came heavy and Leyla could see her chest rise and sink beneath her ruined breastplate. In one swift movement, Arani sunk to one knee in front of Leyla, her head bowed in reverence. A reverence Leyla did not deserve.

“I tread beyond my place and station, but I cannot deny my heart, my queen,” Arani said, her head still bowed. Her golden hair, now splattered with red, was spilling over her shoulders. She raised her head and met Leyla’s eyes.

“Will you come away with me, my liege, my queen, my love? I shall keep you from harm now and always. I will shield you, guard you against all that would seek you out for dark purposes. And when the day comes where you are restored to your kingdom, then I will be at your side, if you should have me.”

Leyla straightened and offered Arani one gloved, delicate hand. The silk and the lace was muddy now, but it did not matter to her guardian. The knight rose to her feet, holding Leyla’s hand carefully. No one else who knew her would think she could be so gentle. And no matter which Arani it was, the one who brought pain and death to all who opposed her, or the one who crowned her with weaved flowers and kissed her hand, Leyla was hers either way.

She stood tall and proud as always and Leyla loved her utterly and beyond words. She could have never married anyone else. To do so would have been an affront to all the gods, a mockery of marriage, those holy vows that bound two hearts together. Arani filled out her heart completely.

And Leyla had never thought herself to be cruel, but perhaps that is what she was, for ever letting Arani come so close. For every getting so close to _her_. It was no simple task, to do what she had done, to rise through the ranks even with all her handicaps. Perhaps in time, she could have become a general, maybe even be lorded, if Leyle had acted like a proper Queen. But she had not. She had fallen for this woman, the moment she had been introduced to her.

She was cruel and selfish and in love. And she should refuse, she ought to not accept anything Arani offered her. To not let her throw her life away. Perhaps she could start a new life, somewhere else. Be granted a place in the service of someone who knew propriety.

But Leyla could not bring herself to send her away. She was not strong enough. If all was lost to her, then she begged the gods to at least let her keep this one woman.

“Arani, I will have you now and always. I seek your protection and your devotion and in return give you my all. Be by my side forever, in life and death, and I will be yours, as you will be mine.”

“Never shall I stray from my place by your side, my lady,” Arani said and cupped Leyla’s cheek with one hand. The blood stained her cheek, but Leyla didn’t mind. This is what it was like to love a knight. A warrior. To love Arani.

Their lips met, rough and chapped from the flight, but oh so warm and gentle. The rain was a torrent and their kingdom was lost, perhaps forever, but Leyla feared nothing so long as this unyielding sentinel watched over her.


End file.
